Vault of Dark Magic
With new knowledge comes a new plan. One Bullock and Arkondon support but the guardians have good reason to fear the terrible price they may pay for raiding the vault of the most powerful Mage to ever walk the realms. Adventure Reading the Tomb bequeathed to bullock by Murth the party learns Tormus has the next fragment secured in his vault. But the Wyrm's book details everything the dragon was able to unravel about the Archmage over centuries, his Demi planes location and how to reach it. Murth details that Bullock must not only get the next fragment but the party must steal an object known as the quicksilver hourglass it not only controls Time itself, but Murths notes detail it is possibly what keeps the time continuum on course, clearly the object has direct connections to the god that was. It's power is how Tormus can be on par with the gods. PART 1: Return to the Hells As you appear on the first layer, you see the blood war in full swing. The army's of Devils and demons tearing each other limb from limb. Suddenly the combined glow from the epic saint and two angels radiates outward in a massive glow of good. EVIL takes notice! The party fights valiantly and Evil pays dearly. Battered and injured the party reaches the gate. The party Appears in infinite staging ground of Anuves. bastions of immeasurable height tower above the party. Several pit fiends bellow orders. The evil generals do not attack knowing what the part just battled threw to reach here. Lesser Devils march threw. The gates appear confused that they are ordered to march past the party. A powerful archduke is spotted watching the party from one of the bastions, its evil is as much a beacon of evil as Arkondons is good. The party goes up to the powerful archduke to find it is an aspect of Bel. Bullock begins to negoshiat for safe passage when Jak goes too far taunting the Devil. Suddenly the party finds them selves fighting not only bel but the dark 8. With keen battle tactics the party kills Bel. The Dark 8 all attack Jia'fal with hatred going beyond devil angel aspect. The dark 8 hint that their history goes back farther then the mighty archon can remember... Bel suddenly re-appears in a swirl of infernal divine energy at his terrace "Bullock You're ignorance is astounding! You have traveled to the heart of the hells, read the pages of power and yet you still battle with futility. Shows the gods end is nigh if they put there fate in you're hands." The party leaves and are not followed. Fighting down to the fifth layer. They locate the Pillar of hellfire said to be the birth place of all pit fiends. Master of Infernal punishment flys in the ash clouds high above you. Circling the piller of fire. Around the pit fiends kneck is the key to Tormuses Demi-plane! PART 2: Tormus's keep Tormus Keep The Punishers 4 all nod to bullock with respect! Bringing confused looks from the Angels, a dry joke from the Pixie and an uncontrolled shiver from Arkcondon. jak talked to firstborn devil spawn, firstborn devil spawn implodes jak, jai'fal, bullock and arkcondon defeat firstborn devil spawn, jai'fal resurrects jak. firstborn gives us key portal opens and jump in. on the other side shit tons of pit fiends battling hallowed paladins and tormus heads the vile bastards Approching the keep the heroes encounter a large adamantine double door that is warded with powerful magics. Seeking to break the door down the monk focuses his chi and delivers a devistating blow which causes the door to explode in all directions in a large blast of shrapnel. As the bubble of shrapnel reaches the monk it surrounds him and suddenly changes direction. The shrapnel surrounds the monk and in an instant begins pulling him toward the door. Reaching out quickly Mar'sil grabs hold of Jai'fal and surprised to find that he is left holding nothing but a soul as Jai'fal's body is sucked into the now whole door. Examining the door the party discovers that with the traps now sprung it is safe to destroy the door and expose the gem that now houses Jai'fal's body allowing the two pieces to be reunited. After passing through the gates they are met by an Adamantine golem that lasts a few rounds against the party before falling to the ground to regenerate. Moving on the party encounters another set of double doors and remembering their previous encounter decide to circumvent the security system. Mar'sil grabs one of the attacking warforged and hurls it at the door thereby triggering the trap the body spell. The party breaks down the door as more warforged begin arriving to stop them. Once inside the double doors a wall of stone is cast to slow the persuit of the warforged. The party advances down the hallway checking the contents of the rooms while the warforged continue to break down the stone wall. On the second level the party encounters a door with a particularly powerful enchantment. Having successfully broken down the wall, the persuing warforged and now regenerated adamantine golem now advance toward the party. A decision is made to taunt the golem and attempt to have it trigger the traps on the door. Mar'sil gets the golem's attention and places himself in front of the door moving just before the golem's fist connects. The blow strikes the door and a wave of magic explodes from the door passing through the solar. Mar'sil notices that several of his magic items no longer functoin and sees the golem pull back a shattered stump of a hand. Mar'sil sidesteps again as the golem swings again with its other hand and another wave of magic pulses out hungrily consuming magic in its path. The confused looking golem examining another broken stump of a hand pauses long enough for Mar'sil to cast an anti magic shield that he hopes will ward him against the next wave of magic. The golem, having no hands, resorts to attacking Mar'sil with its head which shatters against the door as the enevitible wave of magic rips the antimagic shield to shreads and consumes more items worn by Mar'sil. Realizing that there has been virtually no damage to the door so far it is decided to try using a wish to suppress the magic so the party can pass safely. As the magic ward on the door falls inert a loud alarm resounds down the halls of the keep. Once inside the party can clearly see another fragment of the powerful artifact weapon resting on a pedistal but clearly protected by powerful runes. Taking a deep breath and letting out a powerful roar, Bullock charges across the room toward the artifact. Waves of pain corse through Bullock as the traps are triggered. Winded but victorious the minotaur grabs the artifact fragment and hands it to the solar who resotres him to health. Further down the hallway the party encounters a mithril golem that the party makes quick work of. The party encounters another large set of double doors which they bypass by suppressing the magical wards. Inside of the double doors is a large living area which when searched yields a masterfully concealed secret passage. While Jak attempts to open the passage the archmage Tormus appears at the door. Haste is cast upon the rogue to hasten their progress as the party attempts to hold off the archmage. When the secret door is opened, the party quickly passes through to find a long hallway leading to another room with Tormus also standing in front of the doorway. Grabbing Mar'sil grabs Jak and attempts to rush past Tormus into the next room where the artifact hourglass is believed to be. Harnessing unearthly dark energy Tormus casts a spell at Mar'sil as he flies by wracking him with pain. Once inside the room Mar'sil drops Jak and rushes for the hourglass thus triggering the first of two wards around the artifact. Crying out and dropping to one knee as he breaches the first ward, Mar'sil focuses on restoring himself as the party holds off a now duplicated Tormus. Standing once again Mar'sil triggers the second ward and again cries out as the massive amount of dark magic courses through his body attempting to destroy his soul. Tormus screams in rage as Mar'sil reaches down and grasps the hourglass. Mar'sil removes himself from the time stream and takes stock of the situation. Tormus with his face frozen in silent rage somehow tracks Mar'sil around the room with his eyes. Mar'sil realizes that he can remove others from the time stream by maintaining physical contact with them. As Mar'sil concentrates on maintaining the time fracture the party is able to heal itself and prepare for the final confrontation with the archmage Tormus. XP 500,000 XP battleing Aspect of Bel & Dark Eight 500,000 XP Battleing Army of Denezens Pends: Aquiring next pice of Artifact Pends: Aquire the Quicksilver Hourglass 100,000xp rollplaying 1,000,000 XP Part 2 summary 600,000 xp for 6 natural 20's Treasure Light fingered Jak swipes 500,000gp for party treasure for party Artifact 4" Tip is attained and held by Mar'Sil XP 5,000,000 xp defeating first pit fiend 4,000,000 xp bypassing keeps traps 2,000,000 xp defeating golems & Warforged 8,000,000 xp gaining next fragment 200,000 xp Jaks personal notes 2,000,000 xp Mal'Sil adventure summary Category:Adventures